Saturday, May 14, 2011
Last updated: Saturday May 14, 2011, 8:59 PM
BY MERRY FIRSCHEIN
The Record
STAFF WRITER

HACKENSACK — City police arrested a hip-hop artist Saturday who is wanted in Philadelphia, authorities said.

The Philadelphia Police warrant squad called the Hackensack Police Department on Saturday morning to tell officers there was an open warrant for Hackensack resident Barry Reese, also known as the rapper Cassidy, Hackensack police Lt. Timothy Lloyd said.
The warrant was for violating probation, but Reese is also a suspect in a murder and two attempted murders in Philadelphia, Lloyd said.

Philadelphia police knew from a prior investigation that the rapper lived in Hackensack, Lloyd said.

Philadelphia police told their Hackensack counterparts “to consider this person armed and dangerous,” and this was a “high-risk warrant,” Lloyd said.

Officers from the Hackensack Police Emergency Response Team and the police department’s juvenile bureau watched Reese’s home Saturday on Reilly Court, Lloyd said.

Reese left his house about 1:30 p.m. and was followed by police to a local convenience store, Lloyd said.

An undercover ERT officer went in the store and positively identified Reese, he said.

When Reese came out of the store, “the ERT units moved in and conducted a felony motor vehicle stop,” Lloyd said.
Reese “was very surprised,” Lloyd said. The officers who arrested the rapper “did an outstanding job,” he said. “Without the proper teamwork going on, this could have spiraled out of control quickly.”

No one was injured in the arrest, Lloyd said.

Reese, 28, will be brought to the Bergen County Jail Annex to await extradition to Philadelphia, Lloyd said.

Cassidy’s most well-known single is 2005’s “I’m a Hustla,” which reached No. 8 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop charts.